Seventh-inning heroics lift Geneva
Chris Hipchen set a Geneva record with 13 home runs last year, but for the first six innings of Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference opener, Waubonsie Valley lefty Mike Murphy made him look silly.
Mixing a lively fastball with a sharp curve, Murphy fanned Hipchen in three straight at-bats. The Warriors led 6-2 going to the bottom of the seventh with the bottom of Geneva’s order due up.
Geneva pinch hitter Brett Willman reached on a difficult grounder to the shortstop, and Eric Melin followed with a double.
With 1 out Mike Monaghan drew a walk to load the bases, and Hipchen took Murphy’s 3-2 fastball way over the wall in left field for a grand slam to tie the game. Geneva’s bench mobbed Hipchen when he crossed home plate.
That ended Murphy’s day, and after Brian Deal walked Brad Bernhard, Matt Williams capped Geneva’s improbable rally by also homering to left for an 8-6 victory.
Geneva’s bench greeted Williams in even more jubilant fashion, a scene that didn’t seem possible minutes earlier with Murphy and the Warriors in command.
“We were getting down in here,” said Williams, who credited Bernhard for telling him to look for a first-pitch fastball down the middle after Bernhard’s at-bat against Deal.
“We needed to buckle down and get some runs, believe in each other and pick each other up.”
Geneva (3-1, 1-0) won its first game in the UEC while Waubonsie Valley (0-4, 0-1) is still searching for victory No. 1 in 2011.
“We have guys that have come through in clutch situations before and I think they thrive in those situations,” Geneva coach Matt Hahn said. “Chris thrives in situations like that, Matt is the quarterback on the football team. And the home runs don’t mean anything if the guys don’t get on base.”
Hipchen’s blast brought back memories of a wild 11-inning victory last year over DeKalb when he nailed his school record-tying 12th home run for a walk-off win.
It also provided redemption for his three strikeouts against Murphy, a talented senior who fanned 86 batters in 58 innings as a junior.
“I wasn’t able to get a beat on him,” Hipchen said. “I cleared everything out of my head and went up there and let my hands do the work and got a good pitch to hit. I was trying to forget everything. I don’t take striking out three times lightly. I was working on being strong mentally at the plate.”
After slugging 40 home runs as a team last year, Geneva had only 1 in its first 4 games.
The Vikings changed that in a big way with 4 Tuesday. Williams and John Swiderski both hit solo shots.
Geneva needed all the long balls to overcome a rare 6-error game. Jeff Konrad picked up the win in relief of Monaghan.
“Being 1-0 in the new conference, I don’t know a whole lot of teams gave us a chance to play in this conference,” Hahn said. “That is a huge boost being 1-0.”
Waubonsie Valley also used home runs to build its 6-2 lead. Kyle Limanowski hit a pair of homers — the first gave the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the second and the second provided insurance turning a 4-2 lead to 6-2 in the seventh.
The Warriors ran into a couple outs on the bases. Both catchers — Melin for Geneva and Waubonsie’s Eric Josupait — picked runners off first base.
“It was a team loss,” said Warriors coach Dan Fezzuoglio, who compared the 4-run lead slipping away in the seventh to a 2005 state semifinal loss. “Combination of mental and physical errors.
“(Murphy) is an all-conference pitcher, our lead pitcher, we expect him to be the guy to get it done. It’s just one of those things, it’s tough in a yard like this, the wind blowing out. Give credit to them. They stayed aggressive and got the big hits when they needed them. You know it’s never over until the final out.”
The schedule doesn’t get any easier for Waubonsie the next three days against Naperville North, Streamwood and St. Charles North.
Geneva will have momentum on its side heading to Bartlett Thursday.
“I was in the outfield thinking we had a chance,” Hipchen said. “I knew someone was going to come up big.”